Half A Dozen Circling Red-Tailed Hawks

It’s always nice when you stop at your favorite after-work bird spot and are immediately greeted by an interesting scene almost before both feet are out of the car. I opened the driver’s door of my SUV and as I was grabbing my camera out of the passenger seat, I heard a hawk calling.

I switch my autofocus to servo and started taking pictures of a Red-tailed Hawk doing relatively low passes over the parking lot. But what was more interesting is that there were also another 5 or 6 hawks in a big circle, all at different altitudes

.

Maybe there is a downside to my 150-600mm lens, in that I don’t actually have any shots with all six birds in the frame. I suppose if I was thinking, I would have grabbed the Sony with a wider lens on it, or at least snapped a shot with my phone. But since I didn’t you’ll just have to take my word for it. 😎

I thought this was kind of an unusual sight, so I did a quick bit of googling when I got home. It’s possible this was “flight training” for juvenile hawks. But a more likely scenario is it was just a group of red-tails all enjoying the same intense summer monsoon thermal to do a little effortless soaring.

---

I suppose I could have just gotten back in my car and come home to edit pictures. But I was at my favorite little pond, so I decided to walk around for another 15 or 30 minutes.

I didn’t see many other birds, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t take a few pictures.

Whiptail Lizard

I love a good lizard picture, especially to post on Facebook for my mom. I also have a hard time ever passing up a nicely posing dragonfly.

Skimmer Dragonfly

I did get one more good bird picture on my way back to the car. This female vermilion flycatcher decided the reserved handicap sign was the perfect place to stop and have a little sing.

Vermilion Flycatcher

---

Til Next time,

---

---

… but only if you want to 😎